Motorised Easel
A well known mouth painting artist required a multi way adjustable and 360 degree rotating easel so that she could try new techniques in painting. The easel had to be lightweight, collapsible and portable in order to be used in different locations, and also able to accommodate many different shapes and sizes of canvas.
The solution
A portable, folding aluminium easel was constructed and tested but the client found it difficult to control manually and so it was motorised in 3 axes with repurposed 9 volt geared motors which the artist controls with a magnetic ‘wand’ operating proximity switches in a small portable control panel. The panel has an internal rechargeable battery and the unit can be operated either from the mains or the internal battery.Construction was with Aluminium rectangular hollow sections to keep weight down and the motors were repurposed from industrial shredding machines. The controls are six reed switches mounted behind a panel with a diagram of the easel, and the client moves a mouth-held wand over the appropriate legend to actuate the required motion.
The benefit
The client is very happy with the easel which has opened up a new independence with her painting and the ability to try new techniques.
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